Week 2 was my introduction to Koosje Koene, an artist living in Amsterdam. I didn't know a thing about her, but I really like her approach and her videos. We learned about drawing outside (in public) and about colored pencil. I have drawn in public a little bit before, but the colored pencil is very new to me. Chloe has always loved colored pencil and we've gone through a few Prismacolor sets over the years, but I hadn't really used them much. Drawing fruit is really great for this sort of practice and the orange above was my first drawing after watching Koosje's lessons.

Coincidentally, the weekend after Koosje's lessons came out Ryan and I headed to Portland for some sightseeing. It was a beautiful weekend and we did lots of outdoor stuff, including a trip to the zoo. What a great place for outside, in public drawing! It was so crowded that no one really seemed to notice me drawing and Ryan was very patient with me as I took a bit more time at each exhibit.

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Back in Bend, I had to look for interesting subjects to draw again.

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This is the first drawing in a Toned Tan Strathmore sketch journal. I also bought some new Derwent pencils in Portland, Derwent Drawing and Derwent Coloursoft. Both are so nice to work with!

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I'm still working with the colored pencils. I like them on the Toned Tan paper quite a lot!